This is a real eye opener for people who buy and sell on the internet, at times its a cat and mouce game. usually when I buy I always try meet the person In public even if its on the other side of the country I much rather loose a 50 euro train ticket then hundreds from your account.
I have a mint giotto MH1302 ball head with 652 quick release plate. I know its not manfrotto but it can hold a max of 8kg with a safe limit of 6kg if interested
Theres a few cameras on the market that suits your needs but if you could stretch and extra 100 euro the Nikon Coolpix P100 would be a very nice upgrade and it has full HD recording with stereo sound if you ever want to mingle in that department. It also has quiet a nice zoom range on it (26 – 678mm VR* and a macro mode that focuses to 1cm which is very impressive. Not owing one so I cant comment on performance best thing to do is head into a camera shop and pick up a few and see how they go.